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Talk:Glossary/@comment-34436477-20180122214907
While I like your solution for the difference between "Ongoing" and "Special" (because it's very simple and logical) I would disagree with it. They would do it wrong until today. When (almost) all Mega Troopers' abilities would be ongoing then their abilities would be useless. It also makes no sense that AEG still is confused about these terms. I think the alternative option - that one difference between special and ongoing is that specials are optional while ongoing abilities aren't - makes much more sense. Then there would be fewer cards worded incorrectly. Especially older ones when they weren't sure about those terms. The examples in this article don't work as a proof for this definition. Archmage's ability is clearly a talent, no ongoing ability (but talents didn't exist at that time, same with comparable cards like Enshrouding Mist). So this doesn't say anything about the difference between Ongoings and Specials. The abilities of Cthulhu's Chosen and Ninja Acolyte aren't active while in play. They trigger only under very specific circumstances (Ninja Acolyte's ability should be a Talent anyway). Mole is an example for a misworded card. Mole's ability should be a Special as the (optional) ability triggers under specific circumstances: base scoring. Outside of that it has no effect at all. So I would clarify it that way (it's only my opinion, no official clarification): 1. An ability that can trigger when the card is not in play (all "Play... from/when..." cards). 2. An ability that triggers under very specific circumstances while the card is in play. One main category are cards which are connected to base scoring (before, when or after). The other category are optional abilities. So Ongoing would be all abilities which are active while in play (and could possibly trigger multiple times) or doesn't give you a choice. Ongoing are also abilities which give an "... or instead" choice (like They're coming to get you: you can play a minion from your hand OR from your discard pile. A Talent would be an extra minion. Same with Cyberback and Woodland Helpers for example). Based on this definition these cards would be misworded (Ongoing (Archmage) or Special (Infiltrate) abilities which would be Talents are excluded from this list): - Buccaneer (Ongoing instead of Special as it doesn't give you a choice and isn't connected to base scoring) - Doppelgänger (for the same reason as Buccaneer) - Mole (Special instead of Ongoing as it's ability is triggered by base scoring) - Clyde 2.0 (Special instead of Ongoing. Other like Buccaneer you HAVE a choice here) - Jumper (Special instead of Ongoing. You have a choice) - Drone (Special instead of Ongoing) - Bin and Gone (Special instead of Ongoing, it's connected to Base Scoring) - Stalling (Special instead of Ongoing) - Bring down the Walls (Special instead of Ongoing, Base Scoring) - Blood in the Water (Special, it's optional) - The Burst (Special, it's optional) - Alien Guru (Special, optional) - Foot of the King (Special, optional) - Medical Officer, Ship's Engineer, Ensign, Whiplash Maneuver (Special, it's optional) Secret Stash is a special case as it doesn't trigger a card. However: These examples show that they use most of the time "Ongoing" instead of Special for abilities which prevent minion destruction, even when they are optional. So it seems that they decided to make optional abilities (protection abilities) which could potentially trigger the same card multiple times Ongoing. So based on this we would get these definitions: - Special: (1) An ability that triggers while the card is not in play (2) A 1 time use ability that triggers under specific circumstances (most of the time base scoring, not necessarily with choice) while the card is in play or when you have a choice. - Ongoing: Abilities which are active as long as they are in play which doesn't give a choice outside of base scoring or which could trigger the same card multiple times or provides options "instead" of the regular rules. Based on this definitions there are only these cards misworded: - Buccaneer (could be triggered multiple times and gives no choice) - Mole (triggered by base scoring) - Doppelgänger (1 time use but gives no choice) - Jumper (this card could only be triggered once while in play and is optional --> Special) Ensign is a special case as it could be triggered only once or multiple times, depending on how it is affected. So we would only have 4 cards which are worded incorrectly. The "newest" is from the Sci-Fi expansion. Makes sense. So I would go with this definitions.